Jack Wilshere has urged Arsenal to resolve the current transfer impasse with
team-mate Theo Walcott and keep him at the Emirates following the club's 2-2
Champions League draw with Schalke last night.

Walcott had fallen out of favour recently following the collapse of talks in August over a new five-year contract worth £75,000 a week, but found the net for Arsenal after 18 minutes, putting recent injury problems behind him.

Wilshere, who has only recently returned to action himself, played his first 90 minutes for the first team. It was the 20 year-old's third game in 11 days after missing the whole of last season with niggling ankle and knee problems, which ruled him out of both Euro 2012 and the London Olympics.

Arsenal had looked set to avenge their 2-0 home defeat by Schalke last month after an impressive opening to the game in Gelsenkirchen.

France's Olivier Giroud added a second goal in the 26th minute with a header from a Lukas Podolski cross but Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Jefferson Farfan scored for the German side to keep them top of Group B.

“Theo has been great,” Wilshere said in the London Evening Standard. “His future is down to him and the boss to sort out. I hope he does sign.

"He has been great for us. He’s an English lad and great to have around.”

England international Wilshere will have to wait for his fourth appearance as he misses Saturday's clash with Fulham after being sent off in last weekend's 2-1 defeat at Manchester United – something the midfielder is trying to see in a positive light.

He said: “I am gutted to miss Fulham after being out for so long. It’s disappointing to miss any game but if I think about it another way, maybe it will be good for me to have a little break and come back for the Tottenham game [a week later].

“It is difficult [to be out for so long] for any player and especially for me — I was 19 and just breaking into the footballing world and coming into the team. I’d had a good season and was looking to push on next season.

“To have a setback like that was heartbreaking but now I’m back. I am still doing my maintenance work in the gym and am keeping fit.

"Hopefully now I can keep fit and push on. It [the original ankle injury] was serious, of course. It kept me out for so long but it wasn’t the result of a bad tackle or anything where it was career threatening. It was just something that happened over time.

“I knew it would take time to heal and then I suffered a few setbacks. Obviously you then question yourself and say, ‘Am I going to come back to the level that I was at before?’ Hopefully, now I can get back to training well. Every day I need to work hard and get back up to the level I was at.

“Last night, I felt better than I did over the weekend and the weekend before that, so I am feeling better after each game.

“It’s a long season, so I need to take it easy a bit but I am looking forward.”

Walcott, after his first European start of the season, said: “It is nice to be back playing with the guys, that is all I want to be doing now.”